Content Moderation and Takedown Policy

1. Purpose

To explain step by step how reported content is reviewed, removed or left published, and how evidence is preserved.

2. Scope

All surfaces that hold user and organisation content: posts, messages, profiles, events, volunteering listings and Oda chats. User reports, notices from rights holders and decisions of competent authorities.

3. Principles

1. People decide. The automated system only hides content temporarily for child safety reports; the final decision is taken by a person.
2. Reporter confidentiality. The content owner is not told who reported it.
3. Preserve evidence. A "remove" decision does not delete content; it hides it from the public, so evidence to be passed to the authorities is preserved.
4. Consistency. The same decision is applied to all pending reports about the same content.
5. Compliance with the law. Content is made inaccessible following decisions of courts and competent authorities.

4. Roles and responsibilities

• Super-admins (reports section): review, decide, make official referrals where needed and record them.
• Board of Directors: takes the final decision in unclear and serious cases.

5. How it works at hangel today

1. Report: A signed-in user chooses a reason and can add an explanation of up to 1,000 characters. The existence and owner of the target are verified on the server; people cannot report their own content, and only the recipient can report a message. To prevent abuse there is a limit of 20 reports per person per hour; a second report by the same person on the same content does not open a new record.
2. Priority: A "Child safety" report is urgent; the content is automatically hidden from the public until the review ends and the super-admins who can see the reports section are notified immediately. Other reports are handled in normal order. Reports from test accounts do not trigger urgent notifications.
3. Decision: A super-admin decides "remove" or "acceptable" and writes a note. "Remove": the content stays hidden from the public (and is hidden now if it was not already). "Acceptable": the automatic hiding is lifted and events and listings return to their previous status.
4. Official referral: Any official referral made with a "remove" decision (the ICTA İhbar Web hotline, the General Directorate of Security, the prosecutor's office, NCMEC or other) is recorded on the report.
5. Account: For serious or repeated violations, a super-admin can disable the account.
6. Records: Report actions are written to the audit log; the number of pending reports is shown in the super-admin menu.

6. Not yet in place and our goals

• The content owner is not notified of the decision and its reasons.
• There is no in-app appeal flow; appeals are handled manually through destek@hangel.org.
• There is no separate form and counter-notice process for copyright notices.
• There is no written target for review time and no annual transparency report (number, reasons, outcomes).
• No scanning that automatically recognises known harmful images is used.

7. How to raise a concern

"Report" in the app · destek@hangel.org · letters from competent authorities to info@hangel.org.

8. Review

At least once a year and whenever legal or app store rules change.

9. Related documents

Community Guidelines · Complaints and Appeals Policy · Child Protection Policy · Intellectual Property Policy · hangel.org/child-safety